Lawrence Hung - Feb 1, 2007 7:39 am (#17001 Total: 17114)
Now playing Assyrian War,Silent War,Combat Commander,Twilight
Struggle,Band of Heroes,7 Days of 1809,RAF,Here I Stand,Carthage,Rise of
the Roman Republic,6 Days of Glory,ATS 1a Screaming Eagle,Rommel at
Bay,Triumph of Chaos,Sword of Rome,ASLSK1
AAR - Assyrian War
On 20 Jan,07, we played a seldom talk-about Assyrian War from UGG Games.
It is a point-to-point campaign game in ancient Mesopotamia during the
Assyrian kingdom. The kingdom was threatened by the surrounding enemies.
The physical components are top-notch, despite they are all done with
digital graphics. The map stretches from Turkey to Iraq, from Egypt to
Assyria. 110 beautifully illustrated cards, with the usual "Action
Points" ("AP") trade-marking any "CDG" - Card Driven Game.
The game can be played by 2 to 5 players. Although the game rules don't
really spell out, all the 3 scenarios (including the campaign scenario)
end on turn 5, except for the sudden end. The player with the highest
BPs won. So this is a very goal-oriented game.
Simon and I played the Rise and Fall scenario, in that the Kingdom of
Assyria was under attack by its surrounding enemies, including the Mede,
Babylon, Elam (these are the major powers) plus a minor Urartu. Persia,
another minor, was the only one politically pro-Assyria but it is a
minor without any city in its home area. (That's why the Persians had no
choice but to ally with their neighbour. You can't imagine what if they
didn't....)
The VP calculation takes place at every interphase turn (the end of a
game turn when there is only one player with cards left). Generally, you
earn VPs if you won a battle against enemy force. Depending on the size
of the enemy force you defeated, you earn more if the size is larger. So
everyone is seeking out something to battle. If you don't, someone would
come after you.
A battle is resolved by rolling dices equal to the no. of your units. A
hit is scored whenever the dice result is equal or lower than the unit's
strength (or "combat factor"), modified by the terrain and event. Note
that the terrain is determined by the connection line to the target
point city/ area. There is no terrain in the point itself. The combat
factor ranges from 1 to 4 for most units. Each power has a different mix
of units. Some have more calvary or bowman than the other, while some
have more infantry or chariot units. Adding in the mercenaries may
balance your force a bit but its composition is randomly determined by
hand drawing the units from the cup.
Similarly for taking cities. You earn more if it is a larger city. To
take a city, you have to lay a siege in one of the 3 ways: hunger siege,
assault the city or a standard siege. A hunger siege basically cost you
one AP from income. The siege succeeds if the siege level increases to 2
level higher than the city defense (3 if it is a capital city). All the
enemy units inside are eliminated. A direct assault would be a treated
like a battle, but the defender gets to double the no. of dices than
normal. A standard siege would reduce the city defense level gradually
by scoring hits onto the city by the sieging units. In theory, the
larger your force you bring to siege, the faster the wall is broken.
There is a VP Record Sheet. Better to use it at the end of the game. You
don't win by military expansion alone. To win, you have to find a way to
win in economics term - whether you are wealthy than all the other
players. Increase in the ECO (economic) level as compared to the
starting level, adding the map ECOs, 1/3 x trade points and 1/3 x the
number of cities, would be doubled the count of VPs.
There are really a lot of the options in the game for each player,
especially the Assyrian player. He must be taking a subtle, politically
right strategy. If Assyria is conquered, the player would grasp 12 VPs.
On my count, there are about 20 options to go for you to spend the AP
on. So you must develop your general strategy early on. Since we play
this game for a trial between only 2 players, the diplomacy part is
largely ignored. If you can find 5 players to play, it would become
chaotic.
I can say it is one of the most underrated wargame. There are a lot of
details in it but the core game engine is easy and simple to execute.
Download the version 1.2 rule from the publisher's website. But it
shouldn't be a problem if you don't and use the version 1.0 rule to
play. A handy tutorial booklet is included as well in the game for you
to quickly learn the game. There is a quick start card. summarizing all
the major key actions (evasion, interception, AP costs for each actions,
all the DRMs, units costs and victory point table) for everyone to get
into the game fairly easy during play. We look forward to play this game
with 5 players next month.